Bahlgrim: This was the biggest writer block and frustration I've ever had. It took sooooooooo long to finish this and to set the tone to a tune that I think is correct. I hope those who read it have some sense of enjoyment from it.
GOW
Lie Ren was afraid.
He watched as Grimm dropped from the sky taking his neighbors and friends before their bodies came back down, turning into a red mush. He watched as Grimm tore open the metal gates growling and howling and killing everyone in their path, limbs torn off, people half eaten. He watched as Grimm destroyed houses and broke walls, screams of terror coming from within.
Lei Ren watched.
Then he ran.
He ran to find his mother, but the Grimm blocked his path. He then ran to find a place to hide, but was trapped by the big scary horse Grimm.
Then his father came, and for a moment, a brief moment, everything was ok, he was safe. Then, even that moment, was crushed.
"Run! Run Lie and hide!" His father yelled at him, knocking an arrow on his bow preparing to fight off the Grimm.
Lie Ren listened.
Leaving his father to die.
Like he was going to die.
There were too many Grimm, hundreds of them, there was no way they could survive. Everyone was going to die.
But…at least he wasn't going to die alone.
The girl from before, the nobody. With her small bob-cut orange hair and dirty face, crunched lower than he was, hiding beneath one of the houses, the stilts keeping it up still intact.
Lie was afraid but he wouldn't die alone, even if she didn't know who she was…
"Hey…" Lie spoke quietly, fearful to project his voice. The girl looked at him, just as afraid as he.
"What's…What's your name?" Lie asked, he needed to know who she was, her name at the very least. She said nothing for a moment, the screams of the dying surrounding them.
"Nora…Nora Valkyrie." She responded meekly.
Valkyrie. Valkyrie. He searched his memories trying to remember all the names of his neighbors and couldn't match the name with anyone. How did she get here?
"My name is Lie, Lie Ren." He told her, she nodded at him in greeting.
That was when the explosions happened. He couldn't count how many there were, as so much was happening at once. After they died down the entire village was covered by a thick fog. It smelled funny, not like smoke from a fire but thicker, heavier.
The screaming, those horrible screams, they got quieter. He could still hear them, in the distance or occasionally close by but they weren't as powerful as before.
He could hear the growls, the howls and the hissing. He could hear the Grimm's claws scraping the stone road and their paws stomping the ground as they walked, but through it all he heard something else. something different.
It wasn't Grimm. It wasn't screams, but a voice, more than one voice. It was…they were…
Singing?
"And cheer, cheer, the Green Mountaineer!"
He saw flashes of red and green, paired with strange sounds like gunshots, followed by man-shaped silhouettes through the deep fog.
Lie could see they were tall, very tall, several of them, marching through the smoke. In front of them, surrounding them, were Grimm, Ursa, Beowolfs, and more he did not know, only revealed with every flash of light.
"And cheer, cheer, the Green Mountaineer!"
The flashes came again, far more this time, every second presenting a new image for him to see.
One of the men punched a Beowolf in the face, caving its skull in with a resounding crush. Another man was aiming a gun towards a big Grimm, an Ursa, shooting green lights at it, the monster glowed green before dissolving into a glowing pile of mush, bright enough to pierce through the fog. One of the men, farther away, tackled another Grimm to the ground, ending him with flashes of red and an elbow to the face.
"We owe no allegiance; we bow to no throne!"
A moment of foggy blindness before an explosion of green. The color covering a group of Grimm before they slumped to the ground, unmoving.
"Our ruler is Law, and the Law is our own!"
More flashes, dozens of them, along with Grimm rushing towards them before each and everyone of the monsters were forced to stop, their bodies slowly disappearing with every new flash until the last image was of a standing Usra losing its head.
"Our leaders themselves are our fellow-men!"
There was a roar, powerful, loud, scary, coming from Lie's right. Lie heard the sound of heavy feets, the stone crunching under its strength, rushing near him.
In response he heard the revving of an engine followed by another roar, this one mechanical, and sounding a lot like… a chainsaw? It was revved once, then twice, before a different set of heavy footsteps came from a different direction, his left.
"What's happening!?" Nora whispered to him, gripping on his arm, her eyes dating to the shadows, same as he.
"Someone's here. Someone is killing the Grimm, saving us!" He whispered back to her, in shock, still very afraid, but now his had a small speck of hope in his heart.
Maybe he wasn't going to die after all.
The footsteps, they got close now, in fact, he could hear them smash into each other. Through the fog, Lie could vaguely see the same shapes of them fighting.
The man with the chainsaw, who wielded it in one hand, Lie could tell as the sound of the weapon moved as his hand moved, slashed at the Grimm. The Grimm roared in pain before swinging a massive arm back. The man dodged it, ducking out of the way, before slashing the Grimm's arm, the monster roared again. It then swung with its other hand but instead of dodging it the man hooked arm around it and started running dragging the Grimm along with him.
Towards them!
The foggy haze became a defined silhouette then into a clear image a mere moment before the Grimm was slammed into the building's side. It roared, powerfully, before the man revved his chainsaw and the gruesome sound of blade rending flesh followed soon after, its cries making Lie and Nora wince.
"Who can handle the sword, the scythe, and the pen." The man sang, his voice scary, deep, and dark, finishing his song. He backed away from the Grimm and as he did the monster slid across the building side and fell down. Its body pounded the pavement and the sight of it, with its big arms, bone armor, and creepy black skin frightened him.
Lie froze when he saw it but Nora, she couldn't help it.
She yelped.
As the body of the Grimm slowly dissolved it revealed the man was getting closer, his metal boots clanking as he walked. Lie gripped onto Nora and Nora gripped onto him. They came to save us, they shouldn't be afraid! They should be thankful! Yet, neither of them could shake the feeling of fear from them.
The boots stopped then his knees bent. Kneeling on down, Lie could see his hands. His left hand was empty while his right hand held his chainsaw-err chainsword, it looked like a mix of them, with its chainsaw-like blade but sword looking body. Then he lowered his shoulders, here is when Lie noticed the man wore very large, heavy armor, colored like the forest. Then, finally, he lowered his head revealing a helmeted face, colored like the forest, with glowing green eyes.
Lie held his breath, staring at him for a moment.
"Well hello there, kiddos. Nice job hidin'! You found a great spot! The monsters are all dead around these parts, so you don' got to be afraid anymore. Although It'be best if you come along with me now." The man told them, his voice scary but was nice sounding. He lifted his left hand up towards them, his palm open, offering it.
Lie was hesitant. True, he saved them and he killed the Grimm but his instincts were telling him to be careful with the man. Like his father told him, always be careful with strangers.
But it looked like no one told Nora that. She slowly dislodged herself from his arm and slowly crawled towards the man. She stopped a few feet away, looking back at him, uncertain.
"It's alright, darlin'. The Green Mountaineers are here." He said to them.
"Who's the Green Mountaan-Moon-Mouneen- '' Nora tried to say, her tongue getting tied.
"Mountaineers, kiddo. That's who we are, who I am. We're the good guys, who go around killing smelly, nasty mutant monsters like these to keep you little folk safe." He consoled her, his voice filled with patience and friendliness.
Maybe…maybe he's not as scary as he looks to be.
Nora looked at his hand one more time before she reached out for it with her own. She laid her hand on his palm, her small hand a pale stone in the middle of a metal river, before she scooted herself closer. The man didn't close his hand or pull her towards him, he simply waited. As she got closer to the edge of the underside of the house the man moved a bit back, giving her space. He matched her every step, not rushing her nor pushing her, letting her move at her own pace. After what felt like an eternity she finally reached the edge and stood up. Lie could see her looking up at him.
"Now, don' you look prettier than a field of razorgrain." He complimented her before leaning down again catching his eyes.
"Feelin' up for a crawl, little man?" He asked, his hand reached out towards Lie. He gulped quietly before giving a nod. Lie then began to crawl towards the hand and after a moment Lie grabbed it and like before the man let Lie move at his pace. Faster than he thought it would be he exited the underside of the house into the foggy outside.
"Good job, little man. Your pa will be sure to be proud of ya." He told him.
His pa…His father. A wave of sadness surged through him that his father was likely dead, a few tears threatened to leak from his eyes. Something that didn't go unnoticed.
"..You saw your pa get hurt little man?" The man asked, his voice sad.
Lie nodded. He felt a hand on his shoulder, the man's metal hand, softly touching his shoulder.
"It's alrigh', you can let it out, a man 'ought to cry when we lose somethin' we love. Just…just one favor, it'll make your pa proud of ya, I swear it." The man said, causing Lie to look at the man's glowing eyes.
"Cry all you want when we're somewhere safe. We may have killed the mutants around these parts but there are still more crawling abou'. Don' want to attract more than we want, you hear?" Lie understood what he meant. His father always did tell him to be silent if Grimm ever attacked and to try his best to control his emotions. If he can do this now then, yeah, the giant metal man is right, his father would be proud of him.
Lie nodded at the man, wiping the tears from his eyes.
The man chuckled.
"Knew you could do it, little man. Now, both ya, grab onto my arms and climb onto my shoulders. We're hightailing it out of here to a safe place."
The metal man then kneeled down, his head still a few inches above theirs, but low enough for the both children to climb onto his. Lie held tightly onto the Man's armored shoulders, as did Nora, as he straightened himself before sprinting through the fog. Passing by the other metal men with green eyes, not saying a word to each other as they did, only hearing and seeing the flashes of lights and growls in the distance.
That was a while ago now and Lie hasn't heard anything but the metal man's steps and whirring armor. Lie was having a hard time staying focused as whenever he looked, only gray fog greeted him. The sense of blindness ebbing at his calm, teasing it into panic. His grip on the metal shoulder, the only thing anchoring him. The Man seemed to know where he was going and that was what kept Lie from crying.
RAWRR
Lie froze, his grip fixed tightly, as Grimm's growl entered his ears. He frantically scanned the fog for a glimpse of the beast but saw nothing then he felt the shoulder shift. Looking down, Lie watched as the man un-holstered a glowing green pistol and aimed it from his hip. A moment later he fired the weapon shooting globes of green energy which revealed the horrifying silhouettes of Grimm. Thankfully, the bullets hit their mark as the Grimm growled or screeched in pain. He continued to shoot away from him as he moved away from the Grimm, keeping the creatures at bay.
The clicking of his trigger, signaling he ran out of ammo, made him holster his gun and run faster than before.
"Hold on tight, kiddos, and keep your heads down." The Man told them and they did just that. Lie stuffed his head in between the space of his shoulder armor and helmet and held it there.
In between the heavy thuds of his armored feet he could hear the dozens of Grimm paws chasing after them. Their grunts and yips, their growls.
"Shit." The man growled. Wait, he knew that word. His dad said it once before then he quickly told him not to say it until he was older. Lie asked him what it meant and dad told him it meant something bad happened.
In a lapse of judgement, fueled by his childlike curiosity, Lie turned his head back and gasped as through the fog the shape of an Ursa on his back legs shadowed the fog. The Man turned quickly, dodging the Ursa, then moved around it.
"Jesus, how come there's so many back here? I thought we cleared it out." The Man spoke to himself before he pulled something from his waist. It looked like a glowing green can with a knob on top.
"Keep your head down, kiddies." He told them before twisting the knob. Lie quickly followed his order and his head in between his shoulder armor.
A moment later Lie heard a strange hissing boom and saw a flash of green.
"Keep your heads in there. Some of them managed to survive the grenade." He told them before running even faster. Lie was having trouble keeping his grip with how fast he went.
Then he heard the growls again.
"Almost there…Almost there. Almost- Tozer! You better not be sleepin'!" The Man yelled and then.
BBRRRRRVVV BBRRRRVVV
He could hear the sounds of their weapons again, but this one sounded slower and far more powerful.
BBRRRRRVVV
BBRRRRRVVV
BBRRRRRVVVBBRRRRRVVV
BBRRRRRVVV
He felt the Man slow down as the last shot rang out. Lie was tempted to take a peek but he kept his head down like the Man said.
"Nice shooting, Tozer. I was worried I'd catch you dozing off again." The Man complimented.
"That was one time, thirty years ago! Would you let it rest already?" The other man responded.
"Ha! Never. Is Fay busy?" The Man, Rowley, Mr. Rowley, asked.
"Not sure. Lyon brought in a group of locals earlier. She may be busy with them."
"I'll check it out, see you later, Tozer."
"Yea, yea."
Mr. Rowley began to move again.
"It's alright to look up now kiddos, we're safe." He told them and after a moment of hesitation he lifted his head.
Mr. Rowley was taking them to a large building. Wooden body, on stilts like the others, and very nice looking.
"Wait, I know this house. This is Mr. McCoy's house!" Lie thought in realization.
Mr. Rowley walked up the stairs, the wood creaking with every step. He reached the top quickly and grabbed the door handle and opened them. Lie ducked his head from the doors edge, the same as Mr. Rowley.
Once inside, they were in the living room filled with people from the village. Many were hurt, with blood and bandages while others were hiding in the corners. One of the metal men was touching the hurt people, helping them. Mr. Rowley stepped deeper in catching the other metal man's attention.
"Rowley! You found two more. Bring'em here." The man-err woman spoke. Her voice had that spookiness to it like the others but sounded a bit girly, like mom.
Rowley walked close to her before dropping down on one knee. Lie dislodged himself from the shoulder, his arms sore, as did Nora.
"Hello sweetlings, let me have your hand. I gotta check if everythin' is in workin' order. Who wants to go first?" The big woman asked, lifting her left arm, the armor around it looking very different from Mr. Rowley's arm.
As before, Nora went in first but this time without fear.
"Why, thank you, miss. Now, let's see how you're doin'." Lightly gasping Nora's arm, the armor around her left arm opened up revealing many glowing buttons and gadgets. The lady softly moved Nora arm into the middle of her big arm, strapping a leather belt over it to keep it in place.
"What's your name, little lady?" Ms. Fay asked. Nora looked directly to the woman's helmet, with the glowing green eyes.
"N-Nora. Nora Valkyrie." Nora told her but when she mentioned her last name, the lady stopped. She turned her head to look at the toward haired girl and 'hmmed'.
laughed.
"Valkyrie? Hah! That's a strong name there, kiddo. It's no surprise you were able to survive out there!" Mr. Rowley laughed loudly again. Nora looked embarrassed, shrinking into herself.
Ms. Fay gave him a hard punch to his stomach causing him to stop, the slamming of their metal arms making a strong thunk and drawing a grunt of out of Mr. Rowley.
"Your scarin' her, you big lug."
"Sorry," He said, Ms. Fay huffed in response with a shake of her head.
She then focused back to her arm-thing and proceeded to press buttons and turn knobs from left to right.
"No injuries, brain waves are normal, bone integrity at 100%, clean of diseases, no radiation poisoning, clear of infections, immune system at standard levels." She paused after the last result, seemingly reading something, before hmphing.
"You have a clean bill of health, for immediate issues that is." Her right arm went to her side, opening a compartment on her thigh. She pulled a rectangle shaped item, in plastic wrapping and placed it on the ground. She then gestured towards it after she freed Nora's arm.
"Go on, take it." Nora didn't need to be told twice as she grabbed it. After securing it she held it up in front of her and on the wrapped it had the words "U.S. Army Rations" across it.
"Come on, eat, it's not gonna bite." The woman urged with a light joke, making Nora proceed to unwrap it and take a bite. Lie could tell it looked like some type of chocolate.
"Good, huh?" asked. Nora nodded as she chewed, with a smile.
"Lie!" A voice yelled. Lie Ren froze as he recognized the voice, his eyes began to tear in surprise and happiness.
It was his father. He was alive! His clothes looked a mess and he had a scratch on his face and on his cloth but he was alive! Alive!
He stood at the top of the stairs for just a moment before he rushed down and grabbed him, holding him tight.
"I'm so happy you're alright." He told him, his voice weak.
Lie said nothing, instead he allowed his tears to fall, his cries of relief. He was finally safe, safe away from the Grimm and all the noise. Inside his father's arms, his living father's arms.
"As I had told you, Mr. Ren. Let my Mountaineers do their job and you'll get your boy back." A deep voice spoke to his father. Lie leaned away from his father's chest enough to take a peek at who was speaking. It was another metal man standing at the railing on the second floor.
"Yes, thank you, Mr. Allen, but you can't blame me for worrying." His father said to him.
"I don'. I understand the fears of a father very well." Mr. Allen said with a nod. Father said nothing, only nodding.
"The boy, Mr. Ren. I need to check him up." Ms. Fay called out to them. His father stood and softly pulled him toward the metal women before she did the same for Nora.
"A clean bill of health, Mr. Ren! Your boy is good to go." Ms. Fay told them, as she loosened the belt around his arm. Father sighed before giving Lie a soft smile. He looked back at Ms. Fay.
"Thank you," He said simply, but Lie could hear the emotion in his voice.
"Just doin' my job." Ms. Fay then pulled out another chocolate bar and gave it to him. Lie tore through the packaging and took out a chomp.
He froze at the extremely bitter taste that touched his tongue. His face scrunching as a result. It was chocolate, he could tell, but it tasted nothing like the other chocolate he's had.
"Hehe, don' like it very much, huh? That there is raw chocolate, don' got much sugar in it. You're used to the good stuff, I'm guessin'." Lie eyes narrowed in confusion. How can chocolate not have sugar? That's like having pancakes without syrup!
His father chuckled.
"My wife, she has a sweet tooth. She tends to sneak some candies to him whenever I wasn't looking. Or have him help her bake, either way he's spoiled for sugar."
"As kids should be." Ms. Fay says, giving Lie's head a light pat. Nora, who was sitting next to them, stared at Ms. Fay's hand. Ms. Fay noticed this as she moved from my head to hers. Her hand felt strange, feeling all mentally, he much preferred his Mom's or Dad's. Ms. Fay must be doing something different for Nora because she looked really happy while doing it.
"Who was the one that found you, Lie?" Father asked, Lie then pointed at Mr. Rowley, but forced his arm down.
"It's rude to point." His father sternly told him. Lie turned away, embarrassed.
"Haha! It's alrigh', mister. He's still got a mouth full of chocolate, can' expect him to talk while eatin'. How can I help you, sir?" Mr. Rowley asked, his voice, Lie now realizing, never losing that happy tone.
"Did you… did you happen to find this woman?" Father raised a photograph he had taken out of his pocket. Mr. Rowley gently grabbed it and looked closer at it.
"Nuh, we didn' fine anyone lookin' like this, in any matter." He said, giving back the photograph. Disappointing Lie, but, strangely, making Father happy?
How did not finding mom become a good thing?
"Good, then there's still a chance." His father said with a sigh.
His father then looked down to him with a soft smile, rubbing his back as Lie ate his chocolate.
"You're what!?" A loud voice vibrated through the room, scaring him, Nora, and several other people out of their skin, one man even yelled back.
Lie looked up, towards where the voice came from, and saw Mr. Allen, his fingers over the side of his head. Beside him another metal man but with a strange backpack with a long antenna sticking upwards.
"Sir, I-ahem the supplies are appreciated but the rest of the platoon should return to your command. My men an' I can handle ourselves." He said, speaking to someone. Lie couldn't see anyone else with him so he figured he was on his Scroll, but he couldn't see a scroll in his hand. Do their helmets also work like Scrolls? How does that even work?
"I-Yes, sir. No, Sir. Understood, sir. Allen out ...That man thinks we need help!? His might be softer than a baby's ass but we have what it takes to stay here!" Mr. Allen growled out, slamming his hand on the wooden railing shattering a hole through.
"Yuh-oh," Mr. Rowley said, looking up at him. The angry metal man started to stomp towards them, down the stairs, the wood creaking under his weight.
"What's wrong, boss?" Mr. Rowley asked.
"General Washington is sending us reinforcements along with that resupply." He explained, and didn't sound happy about it. Didn't reinforcements mean more people? Why was he mad for getting more help?
"Mighty thoughtful of him, sending those kids here where they can kick back." Mr. Rowley's words sounded nice but for some reason Lie could tell they weren't. Ms. Fay punched Mr. Rowleys's stomach again.
"Calm down, you two. The boy means well. I for one will appreciate extra pairs of hands to help me tend to these people." Ms. Fay sounded like she was happy at least.
"We have Bryson." Mr. Rowley said with a wave of his hand.
"Whose with Warner in the North. I need help now." Ms. Fay looked around for a second, looking at all the hurt people around them, Mr. Rowley did the same.
"Is something wrong, Mr. Allen?" Father asked the angry man.
"It's-hmmm…" He took a breath. "It's a personal issue, nothin' for you to worry about. Objectively speakin', it's great news. When the platoon drops down, my squad an' I will focus completely on the Grimm while the others will cover our flank and make sure you're protected." told his father.
"Then, I hope they will arrive soon." His father wished.
"They will, ETA should be ten minutes. That bein' said, Rowley, get out there and pop flares. Toss a few dummies too, we haven't dealt with many of their flyers but the moment they see those flairs they'll come flockin'." Mr. Allen put hands out to catch something before a low-flash if a light box appeared dropping onto his arms.
Woah! Semblance! So cool!
"Will they? They don' seem that smart."
"Nevermore's act like Ravens and Crows in many ways. One of them is when they see something flashy, shiny, or bright, they tend to want a closer look." Father explained, which gave Lie a sense of pride. His dad was helping! Helping like a Huntsman would!
"Gotcha, then I'll toss them as far as I can. Flare color for landing zone?" Rowley asked as he took the box.
"Blue. It's the least luminescent of the bunch, but Vertibird scanners should see it fine."
"Then I'll pop red for the dummies. I'm on it, boss." Mr. Rowley then turned to leave, but, suddenly, Nora ran towards Rowley and grabbed onto one of his legs, stopping him.
"Woah there, little lady. What seems to be the problem?" Mr. Rowley carefully kneeled down as close to eye level as he could, one of his hands softly clasping Nora's shoulder. She mumbled a whisper causing Rowley to lean further down. Nora spoke again, slightly louder than before.
"Don't go." She begged, her eyes staring into his glowing sockets.
"It's alrigh'. No need to be scared for me now. It'll take more than a few half-brained mutants to keel me over." Rowley joked with a short chuckle, ruffling her hair. The worried look in her eyes didn't leave.
"How about this, I promise to make you my world famous Blamo' Chunko' Mac an' Cheese when I get back and everythin' is settled. Now I can't get hurt. I have to keep my promise to you. That's how it works." Rowley explained, lightly tapping his chest. Lie perked up at that. He remembered his father always promised to come back from his hunts and he always did. He hadn't realized that was how promises worked. He should force father to promise him to survive before he leaves on his hunts. He would never die after that.
"...Ok. Pinky promise." Nora lifted her hand and extended her tiny pinky finger. Rowley laughed as his large finger, absolutely consuming the young girl's pinky, lightly wrapped around it.
"Hehe, of course. I promise to come back to make you my Blamo' Chunko' Mac an' Cheese." Their hands shook as the promise, the pinkies holding each other, before Rowley let go and stood back up.
"Stay near Fay, little one. I'll be back." Rowley pointed at the other metal women getting a nod from Nora before he turned, opened the door, and left.
GOW
Nora didn't want Mr. Rowley to leave. Not like her mama and papa. Not like her friends. Not like everyone. She hated people leaving, they never came back. When Mr. Rowley left she wanted to cry. She felt safe with him. He was nice and kind and reminded her of her papa, but Ms. Fay was also nice. She asked her if she wanted to help. She didn't want to sit down and think, like when her village was attacked, so she said yes and helped Ms. Fay with the hurt people, but as Nora helped, doing everything Ms. Fay asked, holding an arm, getting water, tying knots, and using a strange stamp machine to mark their forearms. Nora remembered how those same people were mean to her, shouted at her, scared her, and she didn't want to help them anymore but Ms. Fay didn't like that, her voice getting grumpy, but instead of shouting at her she took her to another room. There was a bed, nightstands, a chest and other stuff, but she didn't look at it. Instead, she was watching Ms. Fay click things at the back of her neck and remove her metal helmet.
She looked old, really old, with wrinkles, pretty white hair, pale skin, and very pretty blue eyes. Nora never knew people could get this old.
"Nora, it's ok to be mad at them, to hate them even, for what they did." Ms. Fay said, causing Nora to freeze. She didn't know how, but she knew about it, maybe she can read minds? " But when you said you'd help me you got a job, and when you have a job you forget all that stuff at the door. Whatever your feelings, that hurt, that anger, those memories you have, you need to put it in your pocket, and keep it there. When we're safe you can pull it out and put it back in and let all of it just come out with me, ok? With Rowley." Ms. Fay took her hands, cupping them together as she looked into Nora's eyes, with kindness and understanding. Nora felt a few tears brim at the corner of her eyes but closed them shut and rubbed the tears away. She then thought about everything she dealt with, the pain, the loss, the crying, and just shoved it into her pocket. For a moment they stayed but then they slowly disappeared, one by one, leaving her mind. Her pocket felt very heavy now, it felt full.
"Ready now?" Ms. Fay asked with a smile.
Nora nodded, which gave Ms. Fay the ok to put back on her metal head, the green eyes shining brightly, but they aren't as scary as they were before. She can see the pretty blue beneath them.
"Let's go back then."
Nora did as she was told. Kept whatever she thought and felt away and in her pocket. She ignored the face of the woman who yelled at her for sleeping under her house. She ignored the face of a boy who beat her for taking moldy bread from the trash. She ignored the man who pushed her out the main road away from his stall. They helped seven people, plus the five people from before, as they guided them towards the back of the room.
As they worked on the next patient, the door slammed open. Nora yelped, as did others, looking at the door and watched as two people- soldiers- came running in. They wore different armor than Ms. Fay and the others. Smaller, thinner, and shorter but still having shiny lights coming from their metalheads and parts of their body. Ms. Fay stood up from where she was kneeling and faced them. The two of them saluted at her and shouted.
"AUX1-36 reporting, ma'am."
"AUX1-46 reporting, ma'am"
"36, do you have Surgery Kits?" Ms. Fay asked.
"On the bird, ma'am, how many do you need?" One of them responded, his voice sounding like a man.
"All of them. 46, I have minor injuries over that wall. I need confirmation and clearance, they have the stamps on their forearms." Ms. Fay said, using her hand to point to said wall.
"On it," The other person nodded, her voice girly, before briskly walking to the nearest person. The soldier man had already ran back out of the house.
"Nora," Ms. Fay said, turning to her, the small girl looked up at her.
"Thank you for your help, sweetlin', but I've got new helpers now. You should go with your friend and stay with him, hmm? Please." Nora didn't want to. She wanted to keep helping. So, she shook her head.
"You want to keep helping?"
Nora nodded again.
Ms. Fay thought for a moment, before sighing.
"Well, alrigh', stick with 36 and I, but if you ever feel wrong or sick you can leave whenever you need to." Ms. Faye assured her.
Nora nodded.
"Good, thank you sweetlin'."As she finished, rapid footsteps came from the door. 36 had returned with full hands, large bags stacked till under his chin, and put them at the back of the room. The letter 'E' is embroidered on the sides of them.
"36, you're helpin' me with major surgery. We're starting from the left to right." Ms. Fay explained, pointing to where she was starting and ending.
"No one's critical, ma'am?" He asked, pulling a bag with him to the first person, a man with three Nevermore feathers in his body, shoulder, stomach, and thigh.
"No, we've managed to stabilize enough of them to take our time. Stimpaks were a big help but those raven things shoot their feathers and they go deep. Their stems pop out while inside as well. Nearly lost someone learnin' that the hard way." She explained as she lowered herself to her knees.
"Another mutation designed to kill in the most gruesome way possible. What else is new?" 36 mumbled getting a chuckle out of Ms. Fay. He then opened the bag and took out things Nora had little clue how they worked, only that they looked sharp and pointy.
"Ain' that the truth." Ms. Fay agreed, messing with her left arm, the one where she had given Nora her clean bill of health.
"You're going to do this? Here!?" The man they were going to operate on growled out in pain.
"We have nowhere else to do it, sonny. Now, calm down and take a nap, would ya? 36, if you would." Ms. Faye told him with a light tap of her finger on his uninjured shoulder. As 36 pulled out a needle and a little clear bottle with something watery inside and stuck the needle in before sucking some of it out.
"Lay down, sir, I'm going to inject you with something that'll numb the pain and have you fall asleep." 36 told him before sticking the point end of a needle and injecting whatever was inside the syringe.
"Fluids." Ms. Faye orders as he finishes, while she takes out a giant nail from her arm and gives it to him.
"On it." 36 accepted it before taking a bag with water in it, hooking the nail through the open hoop at its top, and then nailing it on the wall above them with the butt of his gun.
"Nora, honey, come here. Move this bag there and take everything out, and grab all the other stuff 36 got out too. Organize it into neat piles, pointy stuff, bottles, paper, and so on, right next to his feet." Nora nodded and grabbed the bag, it was heavy but she could move it.
"Ma'am?" 36 said to Ms. Fay, giving Nora a look, she couldn't tell how he was looking at her but she didn't like it.
"We need the hands, and while you were gone she was a perfect assistant. No need to worry." Ms. Fay told him. A strange warmth was filling Nora's chest as she heard the words.
"Yes, Ma'am." 36 accepted
"Good, now start with this one, it's hittin' his liver." Ms Faye told 36.
"Yes, Ma'am." 36 responded before grabbing a knife that Nora had just organized towards the now sleeping man.
As Nora worked she couldn't help but glance, or outright stare, at their work. The cutting, the bleeding, the talking-she could see his insides- and everything else in between. Ms. Faye said she could leave if she felt sick or wrong, she didn't understand why said it but now she did. She didn't feel sick, she felt-well she didn't know how she felt, definitely not sick she could say that.
She's seen blood before. She's seen other people's insides before. She's seen a lot of things and a lot of them scared her. Not this though, not this.
"You're a strong girl, Nora." Ms. Faye said to her as 36 was sewing the man's cuts closed, paper and towels soaked in blood next to his fingers as he worked.
Nora blushed.
"If you can handle that then you can handle this. Go to the sink and grab water in the biggest bowl you can find, then put some of this stuff in it. After that grab this towel and wash the blood off everything. Dry it and spray it with this here. This is a very important job Nora, as we need to clean the tools for each person else we can get people sick if we don'. Understand?" Ms. Faye explained to her. Nora nodded.
"Good girl." Nora's chest swelled with warmth at the words before going and did as she was told her.
She did this, cleaning, drying, sanitizing, for hours, not feeling a single ounce of sleep as they worked, for day turned to night, and the fog covering the town dissipated, noticeable due the view out of the window no longer covered by a white haze. After the first man, it became two then it went on to five then to twelve. Bag after bag of medicine used to keep them alive and healthy while they cut and to repair them when they were done. It was while she was reorganizing the tools again into their neat piles when Ms. Faye grabbed her shoulder.
"Hey, Nora, look, who's at the door." Nora puts a towel down as she turns her body around.
She blinked, stopping what she was doing, before jumping up and over the tools and running towards the door, crashing into his chest with a tight hug.
"Haha! I told you, little lady, it'll take way more to take me down."
As Rowley effortlessly picked her up and into his arms her eyes felt heavy and her body grew weak before she fell limp in his arms with a peaceful expression on her face.
GOW
Bahlgrim: I had a very tough time finding a way on how to end it and this was the best I could come up with. It's not perfect and sure as hell not full of detail but thankfully Nora's focus and fatigue helped with that.